According to the team over at PuckPedia, the St. Louis Blues have signed Jonatan Berggren to a one-year, $2MM contract for the 2026-27 season. Despite not being tendered a qualifying offer by yesterday’s deadline, the Blues will instead retain Berggren for another season.
The move makes sense on paper. Even though Berggren was owed a qualifying offer of $1.825MM, he was eligible for salary arbitration. Hence, he and St. Louis were able to bypass that altogether by agreeing to a moderate pay increase. Now Berggren will play out next season on a $2MM salary and be a restricted free agent once again next summer, who is eligible for arbitration.
Berggren’s 2025-26 season was somewhat of a mixed bag. After falling out of the lineup with the Detroit Red Wings, he was exposed to the waiver wire, where the Blues ultimately acquired him for nothing. He got off to a decent start with St. Louis, scoring three goals and five points in his first eight contests, averaging 14:05 of ice time per game.
Then came the streakiness that became a contributing factor in his exit from Detroit. Over his next 10 games with the Blues, Berggreen tallied only one goal despite seeing his average ice time bumped to over 15 minutes per game. Still, he ended the regular season on one of his positive streaks, registering two goals and 10 points in his final 18 contests.
There’s no doubt that Berggren has the inherent skill to be a middle-six contributor. He displayed that talent with the Red Wings, too, but as mentioned, he was far too streaky to hold down a regular role in the lineup. The Blues will want to see what a full year of Berggren in the lineup looks like, and can only hope that he finds more consistency in St. Louis.
